Draw the Blade

"Holy shit, shit!"

Skinny Dog shakily climbed to his feet. He looked at the dead black dog, then at Uncle Song and the other three lying in pools of blood, utterly stunned.

"Fang Zhixing, y-you killed them all!"

Skinny Dog drew his tongue back into his mouth and gave Fang Zhixing a long look. The fur all over his body rose slightly.

At that moment, he truly understood what it meant to have every hair stand on end!

When Fang Zhixing made a move, he killed one with each arrow, without the slightest hesitation. He was ruthless enough!

"Why?"

Fang Zhixing's body trembled slightly. Looking down at Uncle Song, he murmured as if to himself, "Why did you come back?"

Skinny Dog shuddered as well and asked, "Yeah, they had clearly gone far away. Why did they turn back?"

Fang Zhixing carefully recalled every moment of his brief encounter with Uncle Song and the others, then pondered, "Did you notice that when Uncle Song and the others saw me, they looked at my quiver several times?"

Skinny Dog had not noticed. His attention had been fixed on the black dog the whole time.

However, he immediately ran forward and checked the arrows carried by Uncle Song's group of four. "They only had eleven arrows between them, while you have eighteen!"

Fang Zhixing sighed. "They most likely turned back to steal my arrows."

Skinny Dog thought so too.

The first time the black dog saw Fang Zhixing, it had merely barked furiously at him. The second time it came back, it lunged straight at him to bite.

That hunting dog had obviously received its master's command before suddenly attacking someone.

Skinny Dog could not help sighing. "The human heart is unfathomable. One moment Uncle Song and the others looked so kind, and the next they were harboring evil intentions toward you."

Fang Zhixing felt chilled as well.

Born into this famine-ravaged, chaotic age, a single moment of carelessness could cost one's life at another person's hands.

Fang Zhixing took several deep breaths, composed himself, and then began searching the bodies.

He took all eleven arrows, pulled back the arrows embedded in the five corpses, and wiped away the bloodstains.

That brought the number of arrows in Fang Zhixing's quiver to twenty-nine.

Next, he searched Uncle Song and the other three's pockets and found fifteen Tongbao coins.

This was the currency circulated by the Great Zhou Dynasty. Common folk called it "big money," and it came in three grades: gold ingots, gold beans, and Tongbao coins.

1 gold ingot = 10 gold beans = 10,000 Tongbao coins

A poor bastard like Big Ox had not a single coin to his name.

Uncle Song and the others did not have much money either—only fifteen big coins.

Fang Zhixing pocketed them.

Then he looked at the three hunting knives lying on the ground. Two had chipped edges; only Uncle Song's hunting knife was decent, polished bright.

Fang Zhixing gripped its handle, and in that instant—

[Cold Weapon: Chopping Knife, length 79 cm, width 11 cm, weight 1.4 kg]

[Basic Sword-Draw Technique · Max-Level Conditions:

1. Draw the blade 1,000 times (Incomplete)

2. Chop and kill 2 lifeforms of the same level (Incomplete)]

"It appeared!"

Fang Zhixing's eyes lit up, and his spirits rose.

It seemed that as long as he touched certain specific objects, he could trigger his [max-level cheat].

Seeing this, Skinny Dog's eyes instantly widened.

Honestly, although his [bond cheat] was awesome, at its root, it was a passive skill.

He had to bind himself to someone, follow that person's pace, and level up in sync with them.

By comparison, Fang Zhixing's cheat clearly held a greater advantage. He could improve and level up on his own, so long as he worked hard to fulfill certain requirements.

It was a little like a jigsaw puzzle—gather all the pieces, complete the picture, and level up!

At that thought, Skinny Dog was simply consumed by envy, jealousy, and hate!

They had both transmigrated, so why had he transmigrated into a dog and received a passive cheat?

Comparing a man to a dog could make a dog mad with rage!

After searching the bodies, Fang Zhixing dragged the five corpses into a patch of bushes. From the outside, the bodies were completely hidden.

"Alright, let's go."

He picked up the gray rabbit and turned to leave.

Skinny Dog immediately followed close at his heels. After a while, he finally could not help asking, "Are you okay? What did killing someone feel like?"

Fang Zhixing fell silent briefly before slowly replying, "When I was killing them, everything happened too fast. I had no time to think much, let alone feel anything. Now, I only feel that I was too careless. I should have noticed Uncle Song and the others' greed earlier and struck first. Otherwise, I was too passive. Even with a cheat, I can't possibly counter-kill someone every single time."

Skinny Dog fell silent.

Fang Zhixing was a ruthless man. He had been that way in his previous life, and he was still the same now.

Four childhood friends had entered society together, but Fang Zhixing alone had done the best. He had become a manager at an investment bank, achieved great success, and attained financial freedom.

If he had not been hacked to death, he would probably soon have been promoted to partner at that investment bank.

Skinny Dog had never accepted Fang Zhixing since childhood, but he had never beaten Fang Zhixing either.

The man and dog made their way down the mountain without incident and headed straight toward Crouching Ox Village. Yet they did not enter the village, instead going to the sandy ground by the great river.

Fang Zhixing drew the hunting knife, cut open the gray rabbit's belly, skinned it, removed the organs, chopped the meat into chunks, built a fire, and roasted it.

There were no seasonings.

But the rabbit meat was exceptionally fresh and tender.

The gray rabbit weighed over five jin. After removing the fur, blood, and bones, there was at least two jin of meat left.

The man and dog ate until they were full.

Skinny Dog asked, "Are we going hunting again next?"

Fang Zhixing shook his head. "No. Before, I wanted to hunt to level up my archery, but now I have a knife..."

Skinny Dog understood.

After resting a while, Fang Zhixing began practicing the Draw Blade Technique.

This Draw Blade Technique began with drawing the blade from its sheath, launching an attack in the flash of lightning and spark of flint, striving to kill with a single blow.

Fang Zhixing had never practiced blade techniques, nor did he have an expert to guide him. He could only feel his way forward by himself.

He tried drawing the blade from its sheath, then pointing it ahead.

[1. Draw the blade 1,000 times (0/1000)]

Clearly, that first draw did not meet the requirements. The cheat had not counted it.

Seeing this, Skinny Dog reminded him, "Drawing the blade means killing someone. At the very least, you need to chop something."

Fang Zhixing thought that made sense. He walked to a large tree, sheathed the blade, then suddenly drew it and chopped hard at the tree.

Crack!

After striking the bark, the hunting knife suddenly bounced away!

Fang Zhixing's tiger's mouth went numb.

Skinny Dog commented, "Before the blade even hit the bark, it had already gone crooked. That wasn't a chop—it was a slap!"

Fang Zhixing took a deep breath and started over. He drew the blade and chopped—failed. He drew it again and chopped—failed again.

"Is chopping someone really this difficult?" Fang Zhixing did not lose heart. All things were difficult at the beginning. So long as he kept practicing, he would surely master it.

Thud~

Suddenly, after Fang Zhixing drew his blade, it traced a beautiful arc. The edge struck the bark squarely and cut into it!

[1. Draw the blade 1,000 times (1/1000)]